Upon arrival in Westmoreland County, Findley was almost immediately elected to the
Council of Censors. On this Council, which was to decide whether the radical
Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776 needed revision, he established himself as an effective supporter of what the "best people" considered the radical position in state politics. In the following years Findley served in the Ninth through Twelfth
General Assemblies and on the
Supreme Executive Council. Findley was an early exponent of a political style in which candidates openly expressed their interests and proposals, as opposed to the "disinterested" style of governance many Founding Fathers envisioned. Findley also publicized the statement of fellow legislator
Hugh Henry Brackenridge that "the people are fools" for opposing the bank, contributing to Brackenridge's defeat in the subsequent election. Findley was also a major opposition voice in the Pennsylvania convention that ratified the federal
Constitution and was a signer of the Minority Dissent. Findley was regularly mocked during convention's debates by gentry who attempted to portray him an uneducated ' country hick '. At one point, Constitutional Convention delegate
James Wilson and Pennsylvania Chief Justice
Thomas McKean disputed one of Findley's statements about jury trials in Sweden; Findley returned two days later with
William Blackstone's
Commentaries on the Laws of England and demonstrated that his reference had been correct. Findley was one of the leaders in the convention that, in 1789, wrote a new
Constitution for Pennsylvania. As an
Anti-Federalist, Findley wrote papers under the name of "An Officer of the Late Continental Army". After serving in the
Pennsylvania House of Representatives, he was elected to the
Second Congress from the district west of the mountains in 1791, after being an unsuccessful candidate for the prior Congress in 1788. William Findley served in the Second through the
Fifth congresses. A Jeffersonian Republican, Findley opposed the financial plans of Federalist
Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton and supported the cause of
states' rights. He died in his home along the
Loyalhanna Creek on April 5, 1821, and is buried in
Latrobe's Unity Cemetery. ==Writings==